American Scene Prints

In 2005 the collection of American art of the twentieth century at the David Owsley Museum of Art Ball State University was significantly enhanced with thirty-four prints given by Ball State University emeritus professors Ned and Gloria Griner. The prints were made in the first half of the century by artists who provided a record of who Americans were and how they lived. The collection contains some of the most compelling images made during these decades, such as George Bellows's In the Park, Dark, of 1916 and Thomas Hart Benton's Departure of the Joads and John Steuart Curry's John Brown, both made in 1939. There are also prints made by less well-known artists selected for their quality and significance of subjects portrayed. The Griners formed their collection to dovetail with the museum's existing collection of prints, in particular the fifty-one prints allocated to the David Owsley Museum of Art in 1943 by the Works Progress Administration. Roughly one hundred prints of this era were added subsequently. In 2010 the Griners more than doubled their 2005 gift with an additional forty-two prints that extend and amplify the scope of the collection. This catalogue publishes the Griners' generous gifts for the first time.